“Do I slow?” Christopher asked.
No, Lilith said. All of you need to go faster.
Algar did me a solid and put on “Toys in the Attic” by Aerosmith. Found the will to run faster with my boys in my ears. When the next song came on and was “Uncle Salty,” had the happy realization that I was getting the entire Toys in the Attic album, which was my favorite.
So, running along and rocking out, we tumbled toward what was either going to be a miraculous save or a really big crash.
Ready, Lilith said finally, as “You See Me Crying” was ending. Impact in five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . My music changed to “Time for You to Go” by Sum 41. One.
And we hit.
The impact was hard to describe—it was what I figured a bubble would feel like when it hit a surface. The bubble is floating along, then it slams into something and breaks apart, but the thing it hit doesn’t even notice.
We weren’t breaking apart, but was pretty sure that was only because the six of us were doing our running thing and Charlie and the other kids were helping keep us steady while Lilith and ACE kept things together.
But once the initial impact was over, we continued to tumble, through the perimeter and back inside the safety of the galaxy. Felt another pull—the core’s pull on our sun.
We’re inside, Lilith said, sounding hella relieved. You cannot slow yet. We need to ensure that we are not at the edges of the galaxy.
We need to ensure that we are not too near any other systems, as well, Space Lucinda said. I will not be able to contain Helix for too long. And when this system dies, we don’t want to take others with us.
We ran on, still tumbling, moving closer to the core and the safety that represented. But not too close. Algar treated me to a lot of songs about home, including but not limited to “On the Way Home” by John Mayer, “Home” by Daughtry, “Ass Back Home” by Gym Class Heroes, and “Baby Come Home” by American Hi-Fi. But when we got to “Finally Found a Home” by Huey Lewis & the News, knew we were close.
Begin slowing, Lilith said. Gradually, this is just as important as speed was before.
Slowed down listening to Aerosmith’s “Sunny Side of Love” while checking to make sure that all the parts of the solar system had come with us. Well, the most important parts, anyway—I wasn’t going to stress about the asteroids and such. But Helix, Helix Noblora, Helix Rime, and the Distant Voyager were all accounted for.
More Aerosmith, more slowing. As “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” was finishing, Lilith told us all to run to the ship. Wruck swooped over and gathered us up, which I appreciated.
We flew into the cargo hold. “Jerry, time to close the door.”
There was silence. Looked at the others, doing my best not to panic. They all looked as freaked out as I felt.
The cargo doors closed. “Jerry?” Kristie asked. “Jerry, are you there?”
Still silence.
“Um, Mother?”
Nothing.
“Did we do all this and lose everyone?” Mossy asked, sounding freaked out.
Tried not to lose it. This was supposed to save everyone. “Are people still on the planets?”
“Sorry!” Jerry’s voice came through. “The move caused the ship some distress. We’re all fine, so are those on the planets—they all went underground, where it was much easier to handle the move. We had a few issues, and communications was damaged, which is why I wasn’t answering. It just took Mother a little time to fix.”
“Thanks for the heart attacks.”
“You’re sure the speed didn’t affect those on the planets or the ship?” Wruck asked.
“You’re asking that now?” Kristie said, sounding a little outraged. Couldn’t really blame her.
Lilith and ACE were protecting, ACE said. All penguins were protected.
Yes, Lilith agreed. That’s one of the reasons we went into the six of you—the barrier you created kept those inside it safe.
My music changed. To “God Is a DJ” by Pink. Started to laugh. “Let’s just get up to the Observation Lounge and make sure,” I suggested. So we did.
Happily and to all our relief, everyone seemed okay. Most of the kids were sleeping. Jamie, Rachel, and Raymond were still awake, though they looked tired.
The adults also looked pretty spent. Abigail and Mahin were sitting with their backs against a wall, as were all the others who’d been there for energy assistance.
Anyone not sleeping got hugged by all of us and vice versa. Some kissing was involved, too, at least between Christopher and Amy and me and Jeff.
“Stop looking worried,” Tito said after we’d all finished being relieved that everyone was alive and okay. “Everyone’s exhausted, but that’s all. How are the six of you?”
We all looked at each other. “I feel fine,” I admitted. The others chimed in with the same. “That’s going to end once ACE and Lilith leave us, though.”
It would be best if ACE and I stay inside of all of you for a while. We will withdraw from one of you at a time, but not just yet. We also need to recover and you will all be less exhausted if we wait.
“Works for me. I’d love to spend time sleeping and celebrating, but we have two planets to evacuate somehow. Space Lucinda said that she can’t control Helix’s degeneration for too long.”
“Excuse me,” Jeff said. “Space who?”
Explained how I’d give the Anti-Mother a new name and why.
“Only my girl.”
“Hey, I named a new solar system after your mother. Well, an old new one. And while it won’t last forever, it’s still an honor.”
“And that’s exactly how I’m going to spin it, baby, believe me.”
“We have a communication coming from the Apata system,” Mother said.
“Put it through to the whole ship, please, Mother,” I said.
“Hi, everyone, it’s Raj. I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on doing the impossible.”
“Thanks, Raj. Two populated planets, lots of planetary debris, and one older sun back where they belong. At least sort of. Mission accomplished. If we can evacuate two large, heavily populated planets before the old sun goes bye-bye.”
“I’ve been doing more than just shaking hands and eating interesting new cuisine, as have the others. What matters most to the current situation is that Gustav has spoken to his father while we were being political. Vatusus advised Galactic Council allies in the general area of what you were doing, so you’ve been monitored. Everyone is impressed. Extremely impressed. Earth’s cachet just rose immeasurably.”
“That’s why we did it,” Jeff said, sarcasm knob at eleven and threatening to go to twelve. “For the accolades.”
Raj laughed. “You’ll appreciate them because they’re how you’re going to evacuate the planets. Now that you’re relatively stationary, Vatusus is sending ships. They need a destination for the refugees, but they can evacuate without issue.”
Jeff groaned. “We have to find them homes, too, don’t we? Solaris is full up, so is Alpha Centauri.”
“Stop stressing. I know where they’re going.”